Manufacture of felt hats.



No. 686,674 Patented Nov. l2, 19m. 0. EQKEATOR.

MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.

(Application filed July 28, 1901.3

/// \S ATTORNEYS.

, UNITED STAT S CHARLES E- KEATOR, OF BROOKLYN,

PATENT ()FFICE.

NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO DUNLAP AND COMPANY, on NEW YORK, N; Y., A CORPORATION on NEW YORK.

MANUFACTURE oF FELT H'ATS.

SPECIFICATION forming art of Letters latent No. 686,674, dated November 12, 1901.

Application filed July 23, 1901.

10 0% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. KEATOR, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of New York, have invented Improvements in the Manufacture of Felt Hats, of which the following is a specification.

In the process of making stiff felt hats the hat-bodies after having been shrunk are sub jected to a stiffening operation by impregnating the hat-bodies with solutions of shellac or other suitable stiffening substance. Subsequently the hat-bodies are cleared, as it is termedthat is, the surface coating of the stiffening material is dissolved off by the action of a hot solution of soda or other suitable solvent of the stiffener. Stiff felt hats require that the brims shall have a greater amount of stiffening in them than the crowns, and the usual method of securing this result is to use two different solutions of shellac, that for the brim being much thicker and denser than that for the crown. The customary method of successively applying these two solutions to the brim and crown of the hat-body is to first force the thicker solution into the brim part by brushing it by hand on the outside and inside of the brim. Then the hat'body is dipped into the thinner solution and the surplus is removed by a blade or other suitable implement in the hand of the operator. This mode of operation is slow', inefficient, troublesome, and expensive of materials as well as time, and except in the hands of very expert operators it results in the production of a large proportion of defective hats, showing crozing-lines or having other defects. Furthermore, this method of stiffening by two solutions, one thick and one thin, necessitates a corresponding twofold treatment in the subsequent clearing operation-that is to say, the brim containing the thicker stifiening has to have more treatment in the soda solution than does the crown. The customary method of clearing such hat-bodies is to first dip the brim only in the soda solution and move such brim part about in the solution and then to immerse the whole Serial No. 69,402. (No model.)

time-consuming and careful manipulation of each individual hat-body by hand,and the finished hats have to be squared+that is, have to have applied to the insides of the crowns a coating of a shellac or other stiffening solution. l

The object of my invention is to overcome these various objections and to render the operation of making felt hats more simple and more economical of time, labor, and. material. Specifically, I use one solution instead of two solutions of the stiffening material and but one immersion instead of two immersions in the clearing-bath, with the result of a great saving of time and labor and material, a diminution in the skill required in handling the hat-bodies, fewer defects in the hats, and a complete dispensing with the subsequentsquaring operation.

For the purpose of more conveniently carrying my process into effect I prefer to employ for the stiffening operation mechanical devices such as are shown in the accompanying drawings and which I will now describe.

Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a tank and pressure-rollers which I preferably employ to carry outmy method of stiffening hat-bodies, and Fig. 2 is a'sectional view of the same.

A is a suitable tank mounted upon a frame or end standards a a, which also support over the tank two pairs of squeezing-rollers Band B. Of each pair one roller, 1) b, is

mounted in fixed bearings, while the other I roller, 0 c, is mounted in bearings d cl, movable toward and from the fixed bearings. In this instance the movable bearings 01 and d are pivoted at e e to the end standards and are acted upon by adjustable pressure devices to force the rollers in movable bearings with any desired pressure up to the corresponding rollers in fixed bearings. In the construction shown the movable bearings d d have upward extensions f and f respectively, the former connected by links g (at opposite ends of the machine) to bell-cranks h, while the extensions f on the movable bearingsd are connected by links g to bellcrank levers h. The levers h are acted on by heavy weights 2', while the levers h are acted on by relatively light weights 1'. The

several rollers may be driven from a beltpulley 5 at one end of the machine and gearwheels or pinions 6 and 7, 8 and 9, and 8 9', shown in this case at the opposite end of the machine.

I prefer to provide scrapers is, resting against the outer rollers, to scrape off the shellac solution and carry itthrough troughs 7c and spouts 10 back into the tank. To aid this and keep the shellac from caking, I may provide means M for feeding a solvent to the rollers by capillary attraction, such means consisting of overhead pans m m, containing alcohol or other solvent, with wicks m leading down to the rollers.

The tank A being filled to a convenient depth with a solution of shellac or other suitable st-iffener, the operator according to my process first completely immerses the whole hat-body in the solution and then passes it in a flattened state up between the heavy pressurerollers B, rotating, as indicated by the arrows, to squeeze out the surplus. This the operator may do more than once, if desired, meantime changing the lines of folding of the hat-body to avoid crozing. Then the operator dips the brim only of the hat-body in the same solution, and then passes the whole hat-body in a flattened state up between the light pressure-rollers B to squeeze out the surplus. Thus by a proper regulation of the relative pressures of the two sets of squeezing-rollers I can get proper relative quantities of stiffening material into the crown and brim parts of the hat-bod y with the use of but one solution, and this with uniformity and speed, with but little skill on the operators part, and without waste of material. Furthermore, I can thereafter clear the hat-body with a single complete immersion in the hot soda or other suitable clearing solution, and so that the relative stiffnesses of crown and brim will be just what is required in the finished hat, with the result that the commonly-used squaring operation is no longer needed.

Furthermore, I have found that with hatbodies stiffened and cleared according to my invention the hat may be finished either side out, and therefore if the hat-body is found to have a slight defect on one side it can be turned inside out and finished with the other side out, a thing which was not possible with hat-bodies stiffened and cleared by the old methods.

I claim as my invention 1. As an improvement in the manufacture of felthats, the hereindescribed process of stifiening hat-bodies, consisting in first impregnating the whole hat-body with the stiffening solution and squeezing out the surplus with a heavy pressure and then impregnating the brim with the same solution and squeezing out the surplus with a light pressure, substantially as described.

2. As an improvement in the manufacture of felt hats, the herein-described process of stiffening hat-bodies, consisting in first dipping the whole hat-body in a stiffening solution and squeezing out the surplus with a heavy pressure and then dipping the brim in the stiffening solution and squeezing out the surplus with a light pressure, substantially as described.

3. As an improvement in the manufacture of felt hats, the herein-described process of first applying the stiffening solution and squeezing out the surplus from the crown and brim parts and then clearing by a single complete immersion of the whole hat-body in the clearing solution.

4. As an improvement in the manufacture of felt hats, the herein-described process of first stiffening hat-bodies by impregnating the body and brim parts with stiifening solution and squeezing out the surplus from the two parts with difierent pressures and then clearing by a single complete immersion of the whole hat-body in the clearing solution.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. E. KEATOR.

Witnesses:

WALTER A. BAYER, F. WARREN WRIGHT. 

